core beliefs
scripture
- The scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are God-breathed, inerrant, and infallible in their original writings, and therefore, the supreme and final authority in faith and life.
God
- There is one God who eternally exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirt.
man
- Man was created in the image of God, that he sinned and thereby incurred, not only physical death, but also spiritual death, which is separation from God, and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature.
jesus
- Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, and that He is fully God and fully man.
- The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified by His shed blood.
- In the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, His ascension into heaven, and His present life there for us as High Priest and Advocate.
salvation
- Salvation is only by the gracious choosing of the Father, the gracious sacrificing of the Son, and the gracious regenerating of the Holy Spirit.
- A person receives salvation only through a faith given by God, irrespective of any past or future quality of that person.
- All who are born again of the Holy Spirit and repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, become children of God.
the sacraments
- The sacrament of baptism is for believers and also for their infant children, administered by pouring or sprinkling.
- The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is for believers who are publicly repentant, professing, and committed to Christ and His Church.
the second coming
- In the "blessed hope" the personal and victorious return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
- In the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting punishment of the lost.
the historic faith
Though councils, creeds, and confessions are fallible and are to ALWAYS be subservient to Holy Scripture, they are nonetheless valuable expressions of faith and life unifying the church in truth throughout the ages. We believe that God throughout the ages, preserved His Church, and the authority of scripture by those who clarified the true Christian faith by means of creeds and confessions.